Mobile communication devices are being adopted at a significant and increasing rate by the public due to their portability, ease of use, small form factor and low entry level system cost for the mobile device itself; and for the almost universal connectivity provided by a number of wireless carriers at a an affordable subscription price. Hitherto most of the mobile device applications revolved around voice communication and to some limited extent for email and data communication.
As the mobile devices evolve into multifunction communication, computation, command and control devices there is a need for better user interfaces. Mobile devices that can provide audio and video services are highly desired by the users. The quality of the audio depends to a large extent on the digital signal processing, DSP capability internal to the mobile device and one or more of the built-in speakers within the mobile device itself; and the external speakers/earphones attachments available for delivering the audio experience to the user.
In the prior art, when it comes to the video experience, there is a fundamental problem that arises from the very advantage of the mobile device, namely its portability and small form factor, which on the other hand significantly limits the viewing area for images, graphics and video. Consequently there is a need for providing novel visual interfaces for enhancing the viewing experience of the user for images, graphics and video. The present invention teaches devices and interfaces that can provide enhanced visual experience and a rich multimedia experience to the mobile device user. In the cross referenced applications cited, Rao et al teach dynamically configurable interfaces for mobile devices. The present continuation in part application teaches novel devices and methods for enhanced configurable visual interfaces for mobile devices. Additionally, the prior art displays did not utilize dedicated and special purpose video processors such as video signal processors, as the emphasis in the prior art was on displaying simple graphics, numbers and text messages. Additionally, there is a need for the mobile device to be configured for use for video, audio and television broadcast programming.
Similarly, in the prior art the quality of the audio is less than desirable as the cellular telephone and other mobile devices such as Personal Digital Assistants, PDAs and portable computers are primarily designed for voice and not high quality music. The stereophonic effect is achieved through the ear phone attachments which often cause discomfort and with prolong wear cause hearing loss. Consequently there is need for special purpose audio signal processors to deliver enhanced audio quality and superior noise suppression and noise cancellation.
In addition in the prior art the cellular telephone/mobile device is used mostly as an adjunct device and not as the primary device with universal utility and the ability to operate at anytime and anywhere, be it at home, at the office or on the road. There is therefore a need for the cellular telephone/mobile device to achieve, much needed primacy in all environments with the ability to operate seamlessly across different communication protocols and different environments in one or more of wired and wireless networks.
Additionally, there is a need for authentication of the user and for the provision of content and services based on criteria such as pre-payment or the promise to pay in the future for services provided for a defined service. Content development is expensive and is often copy right protected. The prior art does not teach the authentication of the user including biometric authentication of the user for the provision of multimedia services and content over a wired or wireless network to mobile devices. The prior art methods of authentication based on encryption and digital keys lend themselves to subversion by the sophisticated user through software means, thus defrauding the rightful owners of the copyrighted material from enjoying the fruits of their investment and in the process raising the price that all other legitimate subscribers have to pay for the services and the content.